Drinking You Back
by KnightInShiningFlannel
Summary: 5.16 Re-Do. What Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda happened. (This is also a part of the "Enscotched Ficathon". Go check out [Enscotched - A Gilmore Girls Ficathon] posted on the incredible {junienmomo}'s page.


**Disclaimer:** All of it is ASP's brilliant mind. Thank God for that. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson! ;p

 **A/N:** Okay, so, I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a loooong time, I was just too lazy to write it, and I didn't want to totally butcher it. So, here it goes.

Btw, beginning dialogue is from the show just to get the ball rolling and give you the initial picture of where it starts off. Okay, on with the madness.

 **Summary:** Takes place during Season 5 Episode 16 – ' _So… Good Talk'_. What if Sookie did end up taking Lorelai out? Given that in this story, her feet don't swell up and being in the beginning of the third trimester of her pregnancy she can control her bladder (mostly). Sookie also secretly convinces Jackson to take a certain grumpy diner owner to the same bar. The story isn't as bad as my summary.

 _ **Chapter 1: Bar, Beers & Batman**_

 _ **Crap Shack - 7:00pm**_

Lorelai walks out of the front door smiling and hops into the passenger side of Sookie's minivan.

Lorelai exhales a breath out "huhh, I am so hot, I may hit on myself tonight."

Sookie smiles at her and replies, "You look nice."

"So do you, your hair is so fancy." Lorelai smiles complimenting Sookie

Sookie smiles and does a small pop of her head and says "And I'm ready to let it down."

"So what town are we painting first?" Lorelai asks

"Oh, well, it's your big night out, so anywhere you want."

"Okay, well how about dancing?" Lorelai suggests

"Dancing, yes!" Sookie says enthusiastically and starts the van then starts singing, "I'm a brick - mmm mmm mmm mm – house. Now of course I can't really dance because my ankles are completely swollen and my stomach is a bit of a hindrance on the dance floor, but I can watch you dance." She says still into the idea of getting her friend out of the house.

Lorelai starting to frown at the thought of Sookie having to watch her have fun all night while she sits pregnant and lonely in a corner so she replied "No that's okay, we can do something else."

Sookie feeling a little bad "But you want to go dancing."

"No, I'll do whatever." Lorelai says and waves it off

"Like what?"

"We can go to a bar, hangout and talk?"

Sookie squeals a little "Yay! That sounds perfect! I've been having a reoccurring dream about a magic pina colada with whipped cream a ton of rum, a ripe juicy pineapple slice and a talking, dancing umbrella. Of course I'll have to scratch out the 'ton of rum' part, but that's fine with me." She lets off a short squeal again then starts singing, "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!"

Lorelai laughed at her friend's enthusiasm "You excited about going out or the magic talking drink?" she jokes

"We haven't had a real girls night out in a looong time. You have any bar in particular that you want to hit?"

"Nope, so long as the place serves alcohol, I'm fine with anywhere."

Sookie giggles, "Alcoholic beverages preferred, check!" then pulls out of Lorelai's drive way and starts toward their destination.

 _ **Diner - 7:05pm**_

The bell rung as the door to the diner swung open gracefully, announcing a new customer. Luke was busy tallying the receipts of the day, from the few brave customers that actually bothered to come in during his mood caused by his recent break up with Lorelai.

He calls out gruffly, "Sit down. I'll be with you in a minute." Not even looking up from his task.

"Luke, buddy! Hey man, how the heck are ya?" Jackson asks enthusiastically with an overly cheerful grin

Luke looks up with a scowl "I'm fine, Jackson. What do you want?"

"Well, I have the night off from husband duty tonight and I was headed to a buddies bar, out in Hartford. As I was passing by, I seen the diner was empty and I figured I'd ask if my pal, Luke if he would want to tag along." Jackson finished with a toothless grin

"No thanks, Jackson. I'm busy." Luke replied flatly not wanting to go anywhere but up to his apartment after closing the diner for the night.

"Aww come on, man. It'll be fun. Plus since my buddy owns the place, we get dollar drafts. It's a great place, low-key, great music, our generation type of music of course, so no rowdy kids or bangin' headache-causing noise. Come on, it'll be great to just relax, you know? Take a load off, have a few beers, be men. What do ya say?"

"I have the diner, and I'm really not up for dressing up and going out."

"This place is a ghost town, Luke. Besides, what you're wearing is fine. Like I said before, the place is very low-key, nothing fancy or anything. You deserve to unwind and have a minute to yourself, you know. Relax with a beer and a friend. A couple beers and I swear if you wanna come home, we'll hop in my truck and shoot it back here."

Luke knew Jackson wouldn't let up, and Sookie was probably behind this whole thing, knowing of his and Lorelai's split. Luke also knew Jackson was just trying to be a friend. Yeah, the guy was a big loof, but his heart was always in the right place, and Luke couldn't help but be a little grateful. He knew the sooner they left the sooner he'd be able to come back and crawl into bed and end yet another dreadful day without Lorelai Gilmore in his life.

Luke exhaled in defeat and said "Fine, but just a few beers and we're outta there. I have a diner to run and I need to be up early tomorrow."

"Alright, sounds reasonable. Let's get this show on the road." Jackson said with a dopey grin and led the way to his truck with Luke closing down the diner and following.

 _ **\- Home Bar -**_

 _Hartford, 7:21pm_

Sookie and Lorelai pull into the parking lot, a good amount of cars there. They walk up to the gray brick building with a bright white sign with black bold lettering over the glass doors reading; _'Home Bar'_ , words a little smaller under it read; ' _your home away from home experience'_. They see low lights coming from inside and hear muffled music and voices and laughter.

Lorelai scrunches her face a bit after reading the sign. "Really, Sook? You couldn't pick a more tackier place?"

Sookie laughs "I know the sign makes it sound, really cliché, but Jackson brought me here a few times and it's actually pretty fun, and Patrick, the owner, can make reeeeally good mixed drinks. I mean they're to die for. And, tonight he's having an oldies but goodies themed night, so that means no young kids acting ignorant and immature around us, so I figured win-win."

Lorelai sighed exagerhatingly "Alright, alright. Let's go." She opens the door for Sookie and waves her forward while they both hear the voices and music get louder.

 _XXXXXXX_

Fifteen minutes after Sookie and Lorelai enter the bar, Jackson pulls into the parking lot. Luke looked up through the windshield at the sign warily while silently reading the corny words in black. They parked and made their way over to the doors. As they reached the doors they could hear muffled music and voices chattering. Luke took the lead while Jackson quickly scanned the parking lot for his wife's blue van, after spotting it a second later near the right corner of the parking lot he trudged forward quickly after Luke.

Jackson led Luke over to the bar. It was a cherry wood with a black padded leather trim going all the way around. There were a couple stools open at the end of the bar and they shuffled towards them. Just then a short, heavy-set man with short salt and peppered hair approached the men.

"Jackson, my man! What's up, dude? I didn't know you were coming in tonight too." The man said with a smile and a hand out-stretched to greet Jackson.

Jackson's eyes grew wide with panic at the word _'too'_ , knowing exactly what the man was talking about. "Yeah, hey Pat! How's it going, buddy?" Jackson replied while trying to subtly rear his head back to where Luke couldn't see and shake it vehemently, desperately trying to motion to Patrick without Luke seeing.

Luke didn't pay much attention to the exchange as he looked up at one of the TV screens that were currently displaying a baseball game. Seeing that Luke was distracted, Jackson leaned over and motioned to Patrick to come closer then whispered, "Hey Pat, don't mention Sookie just yet, will ya? She came here with his ex." Jackson informed his friend briefly of the situation.

"Oh, yeah I saw them. That woman is smokin', man. Every guy in here can't stop gawking at their table over there." Patrick pointed to a small booth for four in the opposite corner of the room, where Sookie and Lorelai sat talking and laughing. "I believe I've seen at least three guys approach the table, which she shot them all down, with a killer smile might I add." He chuckled then continued, "and a total of six different guys refreshing their drinks." Jackson looked over again and seen a few empty glasses on the table along with two full glasses in front of each woman. "This guy's gotta be crazy to have let her out of his sight. What happened?" Patrick whispered back with a smirk.

"It's a long story, but Sookie and I are trying to play a little 'kiss and make-up' with these two, if you know what I mean? So, until we "bump" into each other, he has no clue and neither does she." Jackson says with a small wince

Patrick chuckled a bit then said, "Well, good luck with that, brother."

Just as Pat was about to get the two men beers Jackson looked over to Luke and realized he didn't introduce the men. "Oh hey, Pat, I'm sorry. Pat, Luke. Luke, Pat." He introduced both men while they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, man." Pat told Luke with a smile

"Yeah, you too." Luke said with a nod

Pat left to fetch them drinks. As he walked away, Jackson steals another glance over at his wife's table and happens to catch her eye. She nods acknowledging him. Jackson turns back around to Luke and sees him still looking up while taking a swig of his now second beer.

"Started without me huh?" Jackson joked

"Pat came with this one just as I was done with the one I ordered from Greg." Luke pointed to another man behind the bar. "He bought you one too." Luke gestured to the bottle in front of Jackson

"Great!" Jackson looked around nervously "How you liking the place so far?"

Luke downed the second beer signaling for another. He wiped his lips then answered "Not bad. Big TV's and good beer." accepting his third beer from Greg

"Yeah, Pat just got these babies installed last week." Jackson pointed to the four 55" flat-screen televisions above them. Jackson turned back to Luke noticing him emptying beer number three before he got his first one down. "Whoa, man, you're really thirsty tonight, huh?" Jackson asked cautiously

Luke held up two fingers to Greg then replied with a "Yup" to Jackson. Greg delivered two new beers. Luke slid one over to Jackson while grabbing the other and said "Catch up."

Jackson chugged his first beer then took a hold of his second thinking it was definitely going to be a long night.

 _XXXXXXX_

Meanwhile across the other end of the bar, Sookie and Lorelai were having a blast. Sookie was working slowly on her third virgin pina colada, while Lorelai was on her fourth Long-Island iced tea. Sookie knew Lorelai was pretty good at handling her liquor, so she knew Lorelai wasn't drunk just yet, but she was glad to see that her friend wore a smile that she hadn't seen in a while. Not quite reaching her eyes, but good enough.

"How's New York treating you?" Sookie asks with a grin while gesturing to Lorelai's drink.

Lorelai finished her last sip of her fourth glass and replied "deee-liciously smooth." Then grinned, "No taxi fairs or anything, although I wouldn't mind meeting Robert De Niro. But, you were right, that Patrick, is a genius with his liquor."

Sookie giggled and watched as Lorelai grabbed her fifth glass that had been sent by yet another interested male. "So, how you doing Hun?"

"I'm okay." Lorelai replied a tinge of sadness returning to her eyes as she dropped them quickly to the table knowing exactly the subject behind Sookie's question.

"Good, good. I'm glad." Sookie said quickly while mentally kicking herself for asking too soon. "Hey at least we're going home with the same amount of money we came here with." Sookie said while pointing to all the free drinks on their table they had received.

"Yeah, isn't this great? I guess I didn't have to hit on myself after all." Both women laughed. Just as Sookie was about to share her new discovery with Lorelai about the new strawberry scone recipe she had stumbled upon, a male's voice gave way.

"Evening, ladies!" The man greeted with a charming smile

Sookie and Lorelai both looked to acknowledge yet another on-comer and was a little surprised to see a tall well-built man, who looked to be around thirty years old. He had jet-black neatly styled hair, green eyes, broad shoulders with toned arms showing through his black v-neck tee, dark blue jeans and light brown workman boots. The man looked like he literally walked out of an _Abercrombie & Fitch_ ad. He was holding refills for both women's drinks in his right hand along with a beer in his left for himself. Sookie couldn't help her jaw from almost hitting the table while Lorelei just gave her polite dazzling smile.

The man chuckled a bit seeing Sookie's reaction to him. He looked between the two women and said "I'm Bruce. Bruce-"

"Wayne?" Lorelai interjected with an amused grin

Bruce shook his head and laughed "No. Bruce-" but he was cut off yet again.

"Willis?" Sookie supplied with a giggle

Bruce chuckled and replied, "No, I wish! But sadly, I'm just Bruce Miller."

"So, no bat mobile?" Lorelai asked then she looked around him as if she was looking for someone then continued "and no Robin?"

Bruce looked to Lorelai and replied "No, unfortunately not. Just Bruce Miller, with an F-150 truck and a side-kick K9 named Meaty." He finished with a winning smile. Both women laughed and Bruce saw this as an opening and pushed forward asking "May I join you ladies?" Sookie looked over at Lorelai, but when neither woman answered, Bruce continued "You see, all these women here keep grabbing at me, and I'm feeling very violated. You two would be saving a desperate man." He finished with a grin looking between the two ladies.

Sookie looked to Lorelai again and Lorelai gave a slight nod silently saying it was okay so Sookie looked back at Bruce and answered, "Sure, pull up a chair." She gestured to an open chair at the table next to theirs seeing as she was pregnant and had barely had any room on her side for herself, and noting Lorelai wasn't budging.

Bruce swiftly took the chair and placed it at the head of the table and sat "Thanks." He took a deep breath "So, I don't mean to be so forward, but what are two beautiful women like yourselves doing in a bar unattended?" Bruce asked diving right in looking from Sookie to Lorelai.

Sookie giggled then answered "Well, we work like mules and we were in dire need of a night out on the town, so we took the first opportunity we could find to get together, to commence operation: 'Girl's Night Out', which just so happened to be tonight."

"So how's the night been treating you so far,-? Sorry, I didn't catch your names?" Bruce asked again looking between the women.

"I'm Sookie St. James-Bellville"

"Nice to meet you, Sookie." Bruce nodded and gave Sookie a smile then turned to Lorelai "And you are?" he asked with a grin

Lorelai hesitated just a smidge but replied with a polite smile "Lorelai Gilmore."

"Well it's nice to meet you both." He said still showing his pearly whites "So what do you two ladies do? Career-wise?"

"We own The Dragonfly Inn, out in a small town not far from here called Stars Hollow. We're business partners. I'm the chef and Lorelai here manages the Inn and basically everything else besides the food." Sookie answered proudly.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that place and the two of you for that matter. I'm a Marketing Consultant for Holbrook's Networking Incorporation, and you guys have been the talk for the past three and a half months. Everyone is very impressed with how well you two have gotten your business up and running so fast and proficiently. You ladies are truly remarkable with the stories I've heard. Nothing, but good things about you two." Bruce informed genuinely.

Both women smiled proudly at each other.

"Wow, thank you!" Sookie said holding a hand over her heart touched by the comment.

"Yeah, thanks. We've come a long way. We couldn't have done it without each other or without the help and support from our family and friends." Lorelai told him. Once she said her last sentence she was hit with another wave of sadness, which Sookie noticed. Lorelai shook her head a little ridding those feelings and grabbed her drink and efficiently worked on finishing drink number four and was on to Long-Island number five.

Bruce, seeing that he finally had Lorelai's attention again he dove in once more turning to Sookie first, "So, I see that you my dear are taken." He said gesturing to Sookie's left hand then turned back to Lorelai and continued "What about you? I mean, of course you're probably snatched up by some well-deserving guy though, am I right?"

Lorelai looked away quickly as if she had burnt herself, while Sookie supplied "Um, well, she actually just came out of a really serious relationship. It's still new, hence one of the reasons for operation: 'Girls Night Out'."

"Oh, damn! I'm sorry. I feel like a complete asshole now. Hitting on you while you're still hurting. Um, I'm just going to go flush myself down a toilet now." He starts to get up mentally beating himself up.

Lorelai could see that Bruce at least had the decency of not continuing to pursue her after given that information, which she was grateful for. Usually when guys heard word of a break up, they were like vultures, preying on their meal. She looked at him and gave a small smile while putting her hand on his forearm to stop him then says, "It's okay. There's nothing wrong with being friendly, Batman. You didn't know. Besides I got a drink out of it and an ego-boost. So thanks!" She said with a brightly lit smile

Bruce sat back down and blew out a relieved breath "Whew, thought I just had a size thirteen boot, being shoved in my mouth there." He joked.

Lorelai downed her number five drink and started on number six. She was feeling very stress free at the moment. She had to admit that she was enjoying herself, despite her constant painful reminders of her break up. She couldn't help but be amazed with the revelation she was having about Bruce though. Here was this Rob Lowe look alike clearly interested in her and all she could do was compare him to Luke.

She looked at his smile and thought _'Hie has a nice smile, very flirty, boyishly charming, but Luke's is sexy, manly even with mystery behind it making you want more.'_ Then she looked at Bruce's eyes. _'I like green, very pretty very earthy, like Luke's truck or army jacket, but blue is so much more breath taking. Looking into Luke's eyes is like floating effortlessly, knowing you won't ever drown in the deepest part of the ocean.'_ She heard Bruce laugh at one of Sookie's jokes and again thought _'cute laugh, but Luke's is heart stopping. You can't get enough of it. Hearing it makes your knees buckle.'_ She gave Bruce a once over _'He looks, strong, but I bet not as strong as Luke. Luke's arms are bigger, with more hair, soft arm hair, and broader shoulders perfect for when she held him close, a toned chest with even softer hair than his arms, and his back was so muscular, solid like steal. Flexing when her fingernails clawed or raked over it during their calorie burning activities. God, and his ass, so perfect.'_ She always had a hard time keeping her hands to herself when it came to was still off in thought and let a dreamy sigh slip from her lips causing both Sookie and Bruce to look over at her amusingly.

Lorelai brushed off their looks, finished drink number six, put her glass down and said "Woo! Hey guys, I'm gonna head to the restroom real quick. Empty out the bladder to make room for more NY goodness." She looked to Bruce then continued, "I promise to leave enough water for your future swirly." She giggled at her own joke, slowly starting to feel her buzz "Be back in a jiff, if there's an emergency, send out the bat signal." She smiled brightly, got up and slowly walked off towards the opposite side of the bar in search of the restrooms, leaving Sookie and Bruce staring after her with their amused smiles.

 _XXXXXXX_

Meanwhile across the bar, Jackson looked over his shoulder for the tenth time since he spotted the girls. He had seen the good-looking guy take a seat next to the girls and almost blew their cover, by stalking over there to tell Mr. Macho to get the hell away from his pregnant wife and friend. But he held his cool when he watched the man clearly let his interest known in Lorelai. Jackson was so wrapped up in watching the women interact with this guy that he hadn't heard Luke calling him.

"Jackson!"

"Wha-? Yeah?" Jackson shook his head from the scene and turned back to Luke who was on his seventh beer. After the fifth he slowed down a bit much to Jackson's liking.

"Your beer is getting warm, man." Luke got out slowly with a smirk, the alcohol getting to him

"Oh yeah, thanks, Luke." Jackson said then shot another glance over his shoulder, only this time Luke called him out on it

"What do you keep looking at? You know that you have a pregnant wife waiting at home for you, right? You're lucky, Jackson." Luke slurred and patted Jackson on the back "You're smart. You married the woman of your dreams. You got the woman you loved and married her. You are so damn smart." Luke said squinting his eyes and pointing his finger at Jackson "Not like me. I'm dumb. I'm a big dumb idiot guy who finally gets the one woman I've always wanted, hoped for, dreamed of, loved since the moment I laid eyes on her, and what do I do? I break up with her." Luke laughed darkly "Man, you should've seen her face in the market after I told her it was over." Luke took a swig of his eighth beer then sighed heavily then continued, "I wanted to beat the crap outta myself for being the reason for that look." Luke inhaled through his teeth "She looked so- so sad, so hurt, so... devastated. Like- like I.. tore her heart out and stomped on it repeatedly in front of her, then tried to smash it back in there all flattened out and mangled. Even with that hurt look, she still looked so beautiful. She's always beautiful. I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world. Always will be." Luke shook his head and exhaled a short breath with disgust "I had to get out of there. I had to. I was holding her back. I'm not good enough. I'm not that loser. Pfft, except now I am the loser. She begged me to stay, to fight for our relationship. She said she wanted a middle..." Luke took another gulp of his beer "You know what I told her? I told her it was too much. I couldn't do it… And that's the furthest thing from the truth. What a genius I am, Einstein will surely be jealous of me huh, Jackson." He finished with an exhale exhaustingly, shook his head then clasped Jackson on the back once more and gave him a tired smile

"Well, you know you love her and you know she loves you. She wouldn't have done or said all of that stuff if she didn't. So, how about you end this stupid break up and just make-up. Buddy, you and I both know that you two were a long time coming. I can't think of two people besides Sookie and myself, who are more perfect for each other. Come on, man, wake up." Jackson tried to encourage him then took another glance at the table his wife and friend sat at.

Luke noticing his glance again said "Jackson, I will literally kick your ass if you keep looking at another woman besides your wife."

Jackson not knowing how to answer that stumbled for words "Um, well, uh-"

"What the hell Jackson?" Luke turned his head towards the direction Jackson kept peering over to and immediately froze. His heart stopped and his breath hitched. One word escaped his lips as he exhaled "Lorelai"

TBC

 **A/N:** Sorry, it's a little short. Also, I am trying to keep everyone in character as much as possible, so please excuse me if I slip. And, I am a little rusty on my writing, so please forgive me in advance. This is all for fun and giggles, so remember, don't be too brutal. We all love the show to death and beyond. BTW, I'm super stoked for the revival. But, I will lock myself in my room and cry myself to sleep every night if our favorite couple (Luke & Lorelai) aren't together. Really hoping they're happily married and Lorelai's dream came true. That would be so perfect. *dreamy sigh* Anyway, depending on the feedback, chapter two shall be posted before the end of this week. This story will only last a few chapters. Five at most.


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